Boehner Publicly Rebukes Rangel

By Patrick O'Connor

(The Politico)  Days after the Justice Department indicted a senior Republican senator from Alaska, House GOP Leader John A. Boehner will call for a public rebuke of Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.).

The Republican leader plans to raise these questions in a privileged resolution on the House floor Tuesday afternoon, calling on his colleagues in both parties to censure the powerful New York Democrat who chairs the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

The resolution charges Rangel of "dishonor[ing] himself and [bringing] discredit to the House," according to a copy obtained by Politico.

The Ways and Means chairman has come under fire in the press recently for renting four rent-stabilized apartments in a Harlem high-rise at below-market rates and using congressional stationery to set up meetings with potential donors for an educational center that bears his name.

In the resolution, Republicans ignore the stationery issue and focus solely on the apartments, charging Rangel with violating the House's gift ban for renting more than one rent-stabilized apartment. In the complaint, Republicans argue that Rangel was accepting gifts for renting the three additional apartments at below-market rates.

Boehner further accuses Rangel violating House rules for failing to disclose these allegedly reduced rental rates on his financial disclosure forms and violating campaign finance rules for accepting "illegal corporate contributions from the Olnick Organization" - which owns the Lennox Terrace apartments. The Republican leaders also charges the Ways and Means chairman with violating federal law for failing to disclose "certain contributions from the Olnick Organization."

The New York Democrat has denied any wrongdoing. He also asked the House ethics panel to examine whether his use of the stationery or his lease of these four apartments - one of which he used as a campaign office - violated chamber rules.

With this rebuke, House Republicans are stepping up their efforts to personally tar members of the Democratic majority in a drive to discredit the party in power. According to members and aides, the privileged resolution has been under consideration all week - before the Justice Department indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in that chamber.

“Because the Democrat-led Ethics Committee has been reluctant to act on these serious allegations, even after Chairman Rangel requested an investigation, members of both parties must step forward to protect the honor and integrity of this institution," Boehner said in a statement. "If we fail to pass this resolution, the House will be telling the American people Members of Congress are above the law."

During her tenure as minority leader, now-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) regularly called for privileged resolutions to accuse majority Republicans of alleged malfeasance, but none called for the censure of an individual lawmaker, according to a timeline provided by the GOP. Instead, she called for numerous ethics investigations on topics ranging from the Mark Foley page scandal to the criminal probe involving former GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. She also sought to establish a bipartisan ethics task force similar to one she created after becoming speaker.